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ÖgeOptimization of payment automation in construction projects through blockchain-based smart contracts(Graduate School, 2025-06-16)The construction industry continues to be plagued by financial transactions, contract management, and procurement issues that significantly impact project performance. While digital project management tools are widely used, they often fail to streamline payment procedures, resulting in administrative burdens and exacerbating stakeholders' financial uncertainty. The prolonged verification and approval processes are common in construction contracts, and they often impact project progress and increases disputes. The simultaneous execution of tasks and payment approvals is one of the significant challenges in construction payment workflows, which often leads to conflicts. Furthermore, traditional payment processes involve third-party intermediaries such as banks or financial institutions, adding layers of administration, and thus, delaying transactions and increasing expenses. These intermediaries provide security, but they limit automation and impede processes. Industry reports have identified contract inefficiencies as an important factor for productivity in the construction industry, requiring more efficient contract execution and financial workflows. These inefficiencies should be tackled to reduce costs and improve project performance. To overcome some of these challenges, Project Bank Accounts (PBAs) are considered one of the systems proposed to enhance construction payments. By ensuring that subcontractors are paid instantly, these PBAs promote transparency and reduce the risk of funds errors and payment misallocation. Nevertheless, these systems have some limitations, as they can be expensive, time-consuming, and limited protection against contractor bankruptcy. Due to these constraints, blockchain-based smart contracts have emerged as an alternative capable of minimizing human intervention, enhancing payment efficiency, and automating contract execution. Blockchain has gained prominence in several industries due to decentralization and immutability features. Smart contracts, which are employed on blockchain networks, allow the automatic execution of contract terms only when predefined conditions are met. Smart contracts can reduce conflicts over delays and minimize the need for manual intervention, as they automate payments based on verified project milestones by integrating blockchain with existing payment workflows. According to studies, implementing smart contracts can reduce costs by 6-7% and increase productivity by 8-10% in construction projects, making them a useful technology to enhance financial management. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how blockchain-based smart contracts integrated with advanced management tools can optimize payment procedures in construction projects. To achieve this purpose, the study first determines the limitations of the existing tools and explores for ways blockchain technology can be used to enhance contract management, milestone tracking, and financial workflows. It also assesses the ability of blockchain technology to optimize accountability, real-time tracking, and decision-making. Accordingly, Primavera Cloud and Primavera Unifier tools are selected for this research due to their widespread use in the construction industry. Primavera Cloud is beneficial for managing complex projects since it offers an advanced hierarchical structure and enhanced resource allocation capabilities, features that most other project management tools lack. At the same time, Primavera Unifier provides payment and contract management features for financial monitoring. However, these tools have limitations, such as inflexible workflow structures and limited support for decentralized automation, which restrict flexibility in payment procedures. Therefore, blockchain integration might be a promising solution to enhance payment automation and transparency. Besides, Oracle Blockchain Platform (OBP) is selected to integrate blockchain, as it offers smart contract service and operates within Oracle's cloud ecosystem. By integrating these platforms, the study will develop an improved automated payment system that amends contract execution by streamlining financial transactions and optimizing the transparency of payment procedures in construction projects. The thesis follows a systematic three-phase methodology. The first phase is a systematic literature review; the Scopus database is used to review recent journal papers on blockchain and smart contract technologies related to the construction industry. Based on relevance, twenty-four papers are then selected for analysis and review. A meta-classification framework is then used to analyze research trends, challenges, and gaps. These twenty-four papers are analyzed to identify key limitations and opportunities for using blockchain to manage construction contracts. The second phase is developing a conceptual framework based on the analysis and findings. A hybrid integration of blockchain-based smart contracts with Primavera Cloud and Unifier framework is introduced to address critical issues like payment delays and lack of transparency in contract execution. Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and digitally signed inspection reports are also used in the framework to verify that payments are automatically initiated only when project milestones data is reliable and validated. In the third phase, interviews are conducted with both industry practitioners and blockchain experts to validate the proposed framework and evaluate its real-world applicability. The insights of these interviews provide the potential implementation challenges and allow for a practical assessment of using blockchain in construction project management. Practitioner interviews revealed several major issues integrating blockchain with contemporary project management processes. Workflow instability is one of the major challenges, as enforcing blockchain-based smart contracts through Primavera Unifier for approval processes needs modifying traditional workflows, which might lead to compliance issues and impede adoption. Another concern is the compliance of rigid blockchain regulations with industry practices, particularly in countries where informal agreements and flexible contract management are commonly practiced. Furthermore, practitioner interviewees illuminate the need to select an appropriate blockchain platform that can be effectively integrated with Primavera systems and existing project workflows. Blockchain-based solutions could lead to emerging new inefficiencies instead of solving current ones in case of improper alignment. From a technical perspective, expert interviewees emphasize the reliance on centralized systems like Primavera, which contradicts the decentralized nature of blockchain, one of the major issues addressed by blockchain experts. Expert interviewees emphasize that decentralization is a critical challenge for implementing smart contracts efficiently. Otherwise, blockchain implementation becomes redundant. Data accuracy is also a critical challenge as executing smart contracts relies on reliable and verifiable data, and If input data are manipulated or inaccurate, blockchain efficiency diminishes. To enhance contract execution reliability, experts emphasize the importance of integrating multiple data resources, such as including IoT sensors as an additional resource to Primavera's digital documents. Another important challenge is the high computational cost of blockchain. Despite the high-security levels of public blockchains like Ethereum, they are impractical for large-scale construction projects because of their high transaction costs. Experts recommend consortium blockchains for construction projects. This type of blockchain balances decentralization and cost-effectiveness because multiple stakeholders share the network infrastructure and operational costs. They also recommend exploring consensus mechanisms for less cost and faster transactions. Blockchain experts mentioned that while OBP employs a Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) consensus mechanism, it compromises its decentralization as it is a permissioned blockchain. Future research could explore alternative architectures that balance cost and decentralization. In addition, other mechanisms with incentive design could be explored in future research. From an organizational and social perspective, stakeholders' resistance is a significant challenge to blockchain adoption in the construction industry. Implementation complexity, lack of technical expertise, and concerns about losing control of contract execution are the main reasons organizations fear adopting blockchain technology. According to experts, blockchain technology features should be taught to organizations to support blockchain adoption, including cost savings, increased security, and efficiency enhancement.,. Furthermore, government support and regulations could accelerate adoption. However, overlying restrictive regulations and bans on specific blockchain applications prevent innovation and investments in blockchain technology. According to these findings, blockchain-based smart contract technology will not be able to solve all limitations of construction contract management. However, interviewees emphasize issues that must be addressed to implement blockchain technology successfully in the construction industry. Further investigation on blockchain architecture and pilot studies are critically required to shift seamlessly from traditional systems to blockchain-based smart contract systems.
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ÖgeDetermining an organizational structure model toimprove productivity in architectural design offices(Graduate School, 2025-05-26)While organizational productivity and its influencing factors have been widely explored in the literature across various sectors, there remains a significant shortage of research dedicated specifically to architectural design offices (ADOs). ADOs exhibit distinctive operational characteristics—such as their reliance on project-based workflows, interdisciplinary teamwork, and creativity-centered outputs—that set them apart from more conventional corporate or industrial settings. Despite these unique aspects, the organizational management of ADOs has been largely overlooked in productivity-focused research. This gap may stem from the limited incorporation of architectural practice management into the broader discourse of organizational theory. Consequently, there is a notable deficiency in our understanding of how productivity can be accurately measured, evaluated, and improved within ADOs, underlining the need for focused investigation in this specialized area. This study aims to determine an organizational structure model to improve organizational productivity in ADOs. To achieve this, the research began with a comprehensive review of relevant literature. This review encompassed a wide spectrum of topics including the foundational definitions and historical origins of organizations, their components, and particularly, the attributes of project-based organizations. Emphasis was placed on understanding the implications of organizational structure—its role, typologies, and theoretical foundations—with particular focus on aligning structural design to organizational objectives. Additionally, the literature examined the concept of organization on the individual level, addressing personal and professional self-organization and its impact on workplace productivity. The review also investigated the connection between organizational structure and performance, providing a framework for defining and evaluating productivity within organizational contexts. It identified various productivity-enhancing strategies and outlined how performance can be effectively assessed. Furthermore, the study narrowed its focus to ADOs, exploring their internal structures, workflows, and the role of architectural management (AM) in coordinating both creative and technical tasks. It was observed that existing research on factors influencing productivity in ADOs remains scarce and lacks empirical depth. Based on this theoretical groundwork, the study proposed the following hypothesis: Organizational Structure with 7 Divisions (with functionel structure subcategories) is a suitable model to improve organizational productivity in ADOs. This model was chosen for its comprehensiveness and product-oriented design, which is thought to correspond well with the project-based nature of ADOs. As design offices typically operate with distinct, time-bound projects that mirror the characteristics of projectbased organizations (PBOs), a structure built around such logic is deemed appropriate and potentially beneficial. To test this hypothesis, a quantitative research methodology was employed. A survey was distributed among professionals working in ADOs to evaluate their organizational awareness, the degree to which functions of the proposed model are currently applied, and the perceived impact of these functions on productivity. The survey data were analyzed using a range of statistical techniques, including reliability analysis, normality testing, correlation analysis, and independent samples t-tests. The findings revealed that more than half of the participants lacked awareness of a clearly defined organizational structure within their offices, suggesting a general absence of organizational clarity. However, it was also observed that many of the functions associated with the proposed structure were already being partially implemented. The data shows a notable mismatch between how some functions are used and how important they are thought to be. Despite being underutilized, "strategic planning for organizational growth" was found to have the greatest influence on productivity, underscoring the necessity for ADO owners and employees to understand the significance of strategic planning. Financial operations like "expense management" and "revenue management" were widely employed and thought to be very productive. On the other hand, "keeping and archiving customer information" came in last in terms of perceived productivity impact yet somewhat high in utilization (i.e., it cannot be argued that it is utilized less), indicating that its high use may be due to factors other than productivity. As a general conclusion, it can be said that the analysis supported the hypothesis, indicating that the suggested model holds significant potential for improving productivity in ADOs.
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ÖgeExploring the potential of digital twin technology to improve factors affecting construction productivity during the construction phase(Graduate School, 2025-05-26)In the construction industry, productivity has been a challenging and significant problem. Despite its significant economic importance, the construction sector often underperforms due to inefficiencies observed across various project stages. Low productivity is caused by a variety of problems, including insufficient communication, labor shortages, inadequate planning and a limited integration of digital technologies. These serious problems eventually decrease the general efficiency and sustainability of construction projects by causing delays, cost overruns, risk factors and resource waste, particularly during the building stage. As a result of these problems the construction sector is becoming more interested in advanced technologies in order to experience a digital transformation. Thus, the industry may achieve better site control, more effective decision making, and improved collaboration. Digital twin (DT) technology is one of these innovations that is currently gaining attention as an exciting concept that could help with major inefficiencies during the building phase. DT makes it possible for virtual and physical environments to synchronize in current time while offering insights based on data for performance enhancement. When integrated with Construction 4.0 technologies such as internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and others, DT systems can enable predictive maintenance, better visualization, dynamic planning and modelling construction processes. According to current literature, the DT concept may be particularly beneficial during the building stage since the construction phase is characterized by complicated resource allocation, changing scheduling and critical cost, time and safety performance goals. DT implementation during this stage might facilitate real time site management, decrease rework, enhance safety conditions and allow for a more prepared decision making process. Despite these encouraging advantages, the implementation of DT in the construction stage remains limited, largely due to high costs, technical barriers and lack of awareness. This research investigates the potential of DT technology to improve productivity in the construction phase by examining how its capabilities align with the factors negatively affecting project performance. To achieve this goal, the objectives of the study are (1) to explore the role of DT throughout the building life cycle in the construction sector (2) to identify its benefits, challenges, and key application areas in the construction stage (3) to determine the factors affecting productivity during the construction phase (4) to compare these factors with the DT system's identified capabilities to assess its potential in overcoming productivity challenges. To accomplish these goals, the research adopts a two step method. First, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify the most critical productivity related factors and discover the present knowledge of DT system's role in construction such as its opportunities, obstacles and major application areas. As a second step, the questionnaire was designed based on the literature findings to understand the perception of sector experts and distributed to professionals in the construction industry. This resulted in 76 valid responses. The data were analyzed using SPSS v.29. The collected data were analyzed using several statistical methods including descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha reliability analysis, normality tests, correlation analysis, independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVA. These methods enabled a detailed evaluation of relationships between variables and the identification of notable variations in perceptions across participant groups. Findings from the survey suggest that industry professionals recognize the high potential of DT technology to address key productivity challenges in the construction phase. According to the survey results, professionals identified labor, management systems and design related issues as the most influential and frequently occurring productivity factors. However, when assessing DT system's potential impact, participants believed the greatest improvements would occur in design related issues and management systems. These areas where DT capabilities such as integration with emerging technologies and time, cost optimizations are particularly effective. Despite labor being the most important productivity factor, the associated DT application area workforce monitoring was ranked lowest. This may indicate that DT was not believed to have much of an impact on labor concerns. In the statistical analyses, strong correlations for the benefits of DT concept were found between risk management, real time digital representation and resource management, as well as between time and cost management and resource management. In the challenges of the DT category, the highest correlations appeared among data integration, data management and high-fidelity modeling. For key application areas of DT, strong links were observed between material and equipment management, site monitoring and time and cost optimization. In addition to descriptive and correlation analyses, the study conducted independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVA to explore differences in perceptions among participant groups. According to t-tests and ANOVA, there were minor variations between the participant groups. For the t-test, participants were divided into two groups based on their prior knowledge of DT technology (DT-informed and uninformed). Although no significant differences were observed in perceptions of respondents on the productivity factors and the opportunities of the DT system, significant differences emerged in specific areas. Regarding the potential impact of DT on productivity related factors, a statistically significant difference was identified for the communication factor, suggesting that DT-informed participants believed DT implementation could more strongly improve communication during the construction phase. In the challenges, DT-informed participants rated obstacles such as data integration, high-fidelity modeling and the need for skill and training more critically than non-informed participants. Similarly in the key application areas of DT in the construction phase, a significant difference was observed for the enhanced decision making processes variable, where DT-informed participants rated this application area more highly than non-informed participants. For the one-way ANOVA, participants were categorized according to their professional experience: less than 2 years, 2–5 years and more than 5 years. Even though opinions were generally the same among the groups, two notable distinctions were found. First, participants with more than 5 years of experience reported a higher mean score for DT's adaptability performance compared to those with 2–5 years of experience. Second, in the integration with the emerging technologies application area, those with more than 5 years of experience again rated the application area significantly higher compared to participants with 2–5 years of experience. These findings may imply that more experienced professionals tend to perceive a more positive view of DT as more adaptable and better suited for integration with advanced technologies in construction processes. According to the results obtained from the study, industry experts are optimistic about the DT technology and believe that it can significantly influence the factors determining efficiency and positively affect the productivity in the construction phase.
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ÖgeComparison of the architectural design process quality between BIM and traditional design methods(Graduate School, 2022)Quality in the construction industry requires meeting the requirements and needs of the designers, engineers, and contractors involved in the process, as well as satisfying the customer's expectations. Although quality standards and quality improvement policies are not as established as in the manufacturing industries, it is important for organizations in the construction industry to gain a competitive advantage by ensuring high quality and low costs. When considering construction quality, quality control of the productions and resources that take place during construction usually comes to mind. However, this approach does not include investigating and improving the root causes of quality problems arising from the planning and design processes. In addition, the fact that the control and improvement of quality problems that arise in construction projects are practiced during the construction phase prevents the quality problems derived from design and engineering errors to be solved at the design stage with lower costs and resources. There are also instances where a design defect cannot be corrected in construction at reasonable costs. For this reason, the understanding of quality in construction should be approached in two ways. First of all, product quality in construction is related to the effectiveness of materials, equipment and technologies used in the construction phase. Secondly, process quality in the construction industry is related to the organization and management methods applied during the design, construction and operation phases. The expectations of the stakeholders (i.e., building owner, designers, engineers and management and organization) involved in the architectural design process are different from each other, and therefore they consider different factors when evaluating the design process quality. In order for all stakeholders to develop a common understanding of quality, effective communication methods between stakeholders should be determined, feedback systems should be established, and all parties should be involved in the process from the very beginning of the project design. As a result, the design output, which is expressed in clear and effective project documentation, developed by receiving feedbacks and checked for constructability, ensures that the product reaches the expected quality. In traditional design methods, the design process is divided into sub-processes and the complex design process is tried to be facilitated. However, this division causes the design process to progress independently between disciplines and causes separation between design teams, creating problems in communication, collaboration and integration, which are very important for achieving design quality. Therefore, the adaptation of digitalization, integration and collaboration tools in the design process has the potential to provide solutions to the quality problems present in the design processes. The Building Information Modeling (BIM) method, which has been discussed since the 2000s to provide solutions to these problems, can be used as a tool to improve the quality of the architectural design process with its features such as involving all stakeholders in the design process, providing interdisciplinary integration and supporting information sharing. In this study, the effect of BIM adaptation on the factors affecting quality in the architectural design process is compared with traditional design processes, to conclude whether the use of BIM is a suitable method to improve the quality of the architectural design process. Within the scope of the study, it was decided to conduct a survey as a research method, with the anticipation that there will be a difference between the evaluation of the design process quality of the architects who use traditional design processes and BIM processes in current architectural design applications. First, by conducting a comprehensive literature research, architectural design process is defined in a structured manner and the differences between traditional and integrated design processes were determined. Then, BIM process was examined; the usage areas, maturity levels and benefits of BIM to the design process were explained. Finally, the factors that determine the quality in the design process were determined and the quality evaluation scales for the survey study were prepared by comparing these factors with the benefits of BIM. In order to evaluate the difference between traditional architectural design processes and BIM processes in the context of quality management concepts, these scales were determined as: (1) design requirements, (2) communication (3) drawing and specification control, (4) tools, methods and techniques, (5 ) design validation, (6) project team, and (7) management and organization. In the analysis of the data obtained from a total of 83 participants as a result of the survey conducted with BIM and traditional design process users, the focus was on the participants' evaluation of the quality factors in the architectural design processes and the relationship of these factors with the design process quality. The data obtained through the survey from the evaluations of 42 users of BIM and 41 traditional design processes, were analyzed with descriptive and statistical analysis methods. Before the analysis of the data, reliability analysis was performed on the scales and it was determined that the scales used in the questionnaire were reliable. To determine the relationships between the scales the correlation analysis is applied, the relationships between the factors affecting the quality of the architectural design process of the participants presents conformity with the findings of the literature review. For the comparison of the participant groups, descriptive analysis was first applied, the mean values of the evaluations were presented, and it was observed that there was a difference in the evaluation of the quality scales between the two groups. In order to determine the statistically significant relationships between these differences, t-test analysis was performed for independent samples. The results of the independent samples t-test analysis have presented statistical significance, which demonstrates that the architectural design process quality of the participants using BIM processes is higher than the traditional design processes. In particular, significant differences were seen between the two groups in the scales of tools, methods and techniques (μd = 2,14), design verification (μd = 1,97), drawing and specification control (μd = 1,91), communication (μd = 1,85), management and organization (μd = 1,20), and design requirements(μd = 1,15). It was observed that this difference was less effective at the scale of the project team (μd = 0,47). Within the scope of this study, these results indicate that the use of BIM improves the quality of the architectural design process.
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Ögeİnşaat sektöründe çalışanların bakış açısından yapım projelerinde bilgi israfı(Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü, 2023)İnşaat sektörü örtülü bilginin yoğun olarak üretildiği bir sektördür. Örtülü bilginin aktarılması, paylaşılması veya depolanması zordur. Bir firma, örtülü bilgiyi herkesin anlayabileceği ve erişebileceği hale, yani açık bilgiye dönüştürdüğü zaman bilgi, firma içerisinde tekrar kullanılabilecek ve organizasyon için stratejik değere dönüşecektir, dolayısıyla kaybolmayacaktır. İnşaat projelerinin çok paydaşlı olması, her projede farklı uzmanlık alanlarından ekiplerin yer alması, ekiplerin sürekli değişmesi ve üretim sürecinin uzun olması gibi nedenlerden ötürü örtülü bilginin açık bilgiye dönüşümünde bazı aksaklıklar yaşanabilmektedir. Firmalar sahip oldukları entelektüel sermayeden yararlanma konusunda başarısız olmakta ve çalışanların sahip oldukları örtülü bilginin firmaya değer üretecek şekle sokulması güçleşebilmektedir. Bu durum firmanın bilgi israfı riskiyle karşı karşıya kalması demektir. Bilgi israfı, organizasyon içerisinde erişilebilir düzeyde olsa da, değer üretmek veya müşterinin ihtiyaçlarını karşılamak için kullanılmayan bilgiyi ifade etmektedir. Çalışan ve çalışanın sahip olduğu bilgi hala örgüt içerisindedir fakat örgütsel sistemde sahip oldukları bilginin keşfedilmesine, kullanılmasına ve uygulanmasına izin vermeyen sorunlar veya verimsizliklerle karşılaşılmıştır. Literatürde bu verimsizliklere, bilginin örtülü bilgiden açık bilgiye dönüşümünde ve bilgi yönetimi sürecinde yaşanan aksaklıklar örnek gösterilmektedir. Bu tez çalışmasının amacı inşaat sektöründe bilgi israfının oluşumuna sebep olan durumları çözümlemek, bu israf türüne dair farkındalık düzeyini tespit etmek, inşaat firmalarında bilgi israfının yönetimine veya önlenmesine dair uygulamaları, eksiklikleri, ihtiyaçları ve önerileri belirlemektir. Toplamda altı bölümden oluşan tezin birinci bölümünde literatür özetiyle çalışmaya giriş yapılmış, çalışmanın amacı ve yöntemi açıklanmıştır. İkinci bölümde çalışmanın kuramsal çerçevesini oluşturan literatür taraması verilmiştir. Üçüncü bölümde literatürde güncel bir çalışma alanı olan ve bilgi israfı kavramının arka planını oluşturan bilgi riskleri konusu ele alınmış ve literatürde bahsi geçen bilgi israfı çeşitlerine detaylarıyla birlikte yer verilmiştir. Tezin beşinci bölümünde saha çalışmasında elde edilen bulgular çizelge ve şekillerle sunulmuş, yorumlanmış ve tartışmaya açılmıştır. Altıncı bölümde çalışmanın özetine ve inşaat firmalarının bilgi israfının önlenmesinde uygulayabileceği yöntemlere dair önerilere yer verilmiştir.